Ideas on Coaching Football – Monday Senior Meeting

When working with high school [tag]football[/tag] teams, here are [tag]ideas on coaching football[/tag] that work well. They all begin with a Monday afternoon Senior Meeting.

Games are typically played on Friday nights, so the bulk of practice work is done Tues-Thurs.   Use Mondays to condition, work some special teams and watch film on the upcoming opponent.   At the end of each Monday session, meet with the seniors to outline objectives for the coming week.

Discuss what has been doing well, what needs to be improved upon, how to reiterate team goals in practice, how to hold one another accountable for those goals, how to make sure there is proper focus for the coming week, etc.   In short, make sure that the seniors know the challenge that awaits them that week and what they’ll need to establish in practice for us to be successful.

This is an effective tool because it’s placed some of the responsibility of leadership onto the shoulders of the seniors.   Sometimes players reach a point where they tune coaches out since coaches are constantly reiterating the same messages.   When these messages come instead from teammates, they tend to strike a chord.   Plus, it allows the coaching staff to focus more on implementing each week’s game plan and less on making sure the practice tempo and team attitude is at the proper level.

As an added benefit, it provides a sense of ownership to the seniors, who come to realize that this is their football team and they have to take responsibility for how it conducts itself.   All in all, Senior Meeting helps with organization, tempo, leadership and effort.